WHAT KIND OF TREE ARE YOU AND WHAT FRUITS DO YOU PRODUCE?

 

Homily for the 8^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Scriptural Texts: Sirach 27:4-7, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, Luke 6:39-45

 

Our today’s gospel reading is a continuation of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain which we started reading three Sundays ago. The Sermon on the Plain is a manual on what qualifies one to be a member of the new community, the New Israel. Today, Jesus gives us further instructions on how to conduct our lives especially in relation with others. He speaks to us today about the blind leading the blind, the disciple disregarding the teacher and the hypocrite taking splinters from people’s eyes while there is a plank in their own (Luke 6:39-45).

As human beings, we usually have the tendency to overlook our own defects and failings while focusing more on the mistakes and failures of other people. We are blind to our own shortcomings but we have eagle eyes for the faults and weaknesses of other people. We have the habit of always exonerating ourselves and finding an excuse for our faults but always fast at criticizing others’ faults and pointing accusing fingers at them. Jesus reminds us today to focus more on ourselves than on the faults of other people. It is only when we focus more on improving ourselves and working on our weaknesses can we bear good fruits in the world; fruits that will even transform other people.

The instruction of Jesus to focus more on ourselves and not to judge others does not mean that we should not correct others or call them back when they stray from the path of righteousness. It is not so. As a matter of fact, when it comes to our relationship with God and our Christian journey, we are all interdependent. We are all on a journey towards a fuller and deeper faith in God, and we all need each other’s help and support so as to reach the kingdom promised us by God. What Jesus instructs us however is that the one who wants to correct must have the virtue of humility, and the one who is corrected must have the spirit of openness. The virtue of humility helps us to first of all acknowledge our own shortcomings before condemning others, and the spirit of openness helps us to accept genuine and fraternal corrections from others without being defensive or reactionary. The combination of self-criticism, fraternal correction and a receptive heart is a perfect recipe for becoming a good follower of Jesus.

As the first reading and the gospel reading remind us, we are like trees that are known by the fruits they bear and which shall also be judged by them (Sirach 27:4-7, Luke 6:43-44; Mathew 7:15-20). The kind of fruit we produce depends on the kind of tree that we are. As Jesus tells us, no good tree bears bad fruit and no bad tree bears good fruit. The good man draws what is good from the goodness of his heart and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6: 43-45). What we express on the outside is a reflection of our inner self and in most cases, the faults we see in others is a projection of our own life. Therefore, let us purify our mind and spirit to become a good tree that produces good fruits so that our corrections can also bear rich and positive fruits in the lives of others.